The present invention relates to a cleaning nozzle used in automatic cleaning of inside of particulate material manufacturing equipment, tanks, chutes or the like in high temperature water or other fluid.
Hitherto, various cleaning nozzles of this sort have been known, for example, the cleaning nozzle for rotating a rotary element assembled in a cylinder by the fluid flow flowing in the cylinder connected to a cleaning fluid feed pipe, and injecting the cleaning fluid from an injection pipe while swiveling the injection pipe through a reduction gear train by rotation of this rotary element, the cleaning nozzle for injecting the cleaning fluid from the injection pipe while forcing to swivel the injection pipe assembled in the lower part of the cylinder, by driving motor mounted on the upper part of the cylinder, through a drive shaft penetrating through the inside of the cylinder, and the cleaning nozzle for rotatably disposing the injection pipe arranged on the circumference centered around the axial center of the cylinder, and rotating the injection pipe around the axial center of the cylinder by the reaction force of the jet flow injected from the injection pipe.
In these conventional cleaning nozzles, the mechanism is complicated or increase in size by the reduction gear train, and compressed air and electric power are required aside from the cleaning fluid. Above all, the greatest demerit of the conventional cleaning nozzles is that the nozzle main body is clogged with the particulate material when treating the particulate material inside the particulate manufacturing equipment, tank or chute because it is installed in the projected state inside the particulate manufacturing equipment, tank or chute, possibly resulting in inability of rotation mechanically, inability of cleaning when cleaning, inability of stable operation of the equipment due to closure or sticking phenomenon of particulate material by the cleaning nozzle, or decrease of production capacity or lowering of product quality as the case may be. Accordingly, in the general conventional method of cleaning the inside of the particulate manufacturing equipment, tank, chute or the like, opening the cleaning port by hand, the conventional cleaning nozzle or hose was put in to clean the inside, or otherwise the equipment was forced to be disassembled into individual components to be cleaned by hand. Therefore, when cleaning many parts or cleaning hardly accessible places, it took much labor and time, accompanied by danger, and also raised the cleaning cost and caused fluctuations in the cleaning effect and cleaning quality. Furthermore, human errors were likely to be induced, and especially in manufacturing facilities of pharmaceuticals, foods and the like, it is difficult to minimize the contamination and quality changes of pharmaceuticals, foods and others. To prevent them, in each manufacturing line unit, and in each machine, or also in each manufacture if necessary, it may be considered to control sequentially by programming the cleaning cycle [for example, 1. primary washing in tap water (cleaning with detergent, 2. finish washing by deionized water or distilled water, 3. drying by hot air], and cleaning conditions [for example, 1. washing pressure, 2. washing temperature, 3. washing speed, 4. hot air temperature, 5. washing time or water volume, 6. hot air drying time, etc.]. There has been, however, hindrance to full automation of cleaning system that can save the cleaning fluid, use in the night time, enable unmanned operation, and contribute greatly to enhancement of labor-saving and productivity.